Immigration Reform Advocates Escalate Tactics

PHOENIX -- In spite of the federal government shutdown, thousands are gathering on the National Mall in Washington on Tuesday to push Congress to act on immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally.

Immigration advocates have declared October a month of escalating pressure for a comprehensive immigration bill.

And as the chances of any kind of reform seem to grow less and less likely this year, some of the advocates' tactics are escalating.

Activists say some 200 people at Tuesday's event, including a Phoenix woman, will risk being arrested in an act of civil disobedience. Last month, a group of activists were also arrested in Washington.

Activists in Phoenix are announcing another action next week: They plan to "shut down" the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on Oct. 14 through what they say will be a peaceful civil disobedience.

Organizers from the National Day Labor Organizing Network and Puente say they are protesting the Obama administration's deportations, which are nearing two million since the president took office.

They are calling on the president to halt deportations and expand the administration's deferred action program to unauthorized immigrants who could benefit from immigration reform.